Friday, August 3, 2012

Starlighter by Bryan Davis

I'm back! The trip was wonderful, thank you for asking. In fact, you can read about the first part of my trip here. So, the restart the blogging cycle, I'll start the countdown to the end of the giveaway by reviewing the first book in the Dragons of Starlight series - Starlighter.

I don't know why, but all the Bryan Davis books I read involve Dragons. But still, I'm not complaining, the series are nothing alike. Starlighter is part-fantasy, part-science fiction. It involves two worlds, one called Darksphere, where tales of kidnapping Dragons are regarded as fairytales, and Starlight, where the kidnapped humans are slaves to the dragons.

Jason, from Darkshpere, and Koren, a slave from Starlight, are being brought together with a series of events. Against the odds, Jason finds himself in Darksphere. At the same time, Koren becomes aware of strange powers developing. When they meet, they try to save the slaves on Starlight. But, things aren't as straightforwards as merely charging in.

The world-building in this book is fantastic. Although there are references to genetic locks, they don't seem out of place in a book with Dragons. There are slaves, but there is also technology. The two separate worlds are both alike but different. To me, Starlight was more well-crafted, but that is probably because most of the book takes place on Starlight.

The characters too, were well-rounded. Most of the characters were human, which is to say, they tried to be good but were somehow flawed. One or two were evil and some, well, you can't tell at the end of the book. I cheered and booed them by turns, as they makes decisions, some wise, and some rather foolish in my opinion. Apart from Jason and Koren, there are many other wonderful characters. From the humans, we have Elyssa (another girl with special gifts), Tibber (is he insane or only pretending?), Randall (the son of the governer, he isn't as annoying as his first appearance suggests). For the dragons, there is Arxad (who is loyal to his race, but also has a heart of gold), Magmar (the king, he seems ruthless) and the Black Egg (a prophesied prince, he basically screams EVIL).

I highly recommend picking this series of books up. Once I started reading it on the train, I couldn't stop. I guess I was lucky I started reading on the Hokutosei, because that gave me the time I needed to finish it(:

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.

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